Tariffs - Who Pays?

Tariffs are paid by importers when the goods imported cross the border into the nation that has established the tariff. They are primarily a tax on consumption. Nations cannot make other nations pay taxes. They can only tax people and businesses resident in their nation.

Who bears the cost of tariffs levied on traded goods is a different issue. As economists like to say, “It depends…”.

Importers of consumer goods are often retailers or their agents. If they cannot absorb the additional cost of the tariffs, which is unlikely, they will have to pass most of the cost on in price increases to consumers. If consumers still want the good, they will have to pay the higher price.

Importers of capital and intermediate goods will usually be manufacturers, or their agents. They will have to pay the tariff on the goods when they cross the border. Unless they can absorb the cost, they will need to pass the additional cost on to retailers, and eventually to consumers.

Changes in prices affect the demand for goods. If consumers have a strong preference for a particular good, they will have no choice but to pay the higher price. This makes them worse off, however, because they will have less money to spend on other goods.

If consumers are not fussy about what they consume, they might be able to switch to an alternative good that is not subject to the tariff, but still meets their needs. However, they will still be worse off because they have been forced to shift to a product that was not previously their first choice, presumably because they did not think it was as good.

If people are forced to switch from an imported product, to a locally produced product, it is likely to be more expensive than the imported good that they used to buy. It is likely to be poorer quality relative to price. For example, if Americans are forced to switch from Chinese or Japanese-manufactured autos to American-produced ones, the quality might be poorer and the price higher. This makes them worse off, even if American manufacturers and workers benefit.

Some manufacturers of foreign manufactured goods might choose to reduce their prices to absorb the cost of the tariff in order to maintain their market share. There will be a limit to how much they can do this if their profit margins are tight. To the extent that they do choose to reduce their prices, some of the cost of the tariffs falls on them. This will reduce their profits.

If a manufacturer is unable to reduce the price sufficiently to maintain market share, they will sell less product, which will reduce their profits, unless they can quickly find alternative markets for their products.

Putting it simply:

• If buyers are indifferent to price, then buyers pay the tariffs.
• If buyers are highly sensitive to price, then sellers sell less and receive less revenue per unit sold.

However, in economics, nothing is ever simple.

Exchange Rates
The introduction of tariffs can have a significant effect on exchange rates. When Donald Trump introduced his tariffs many economists assumed that this would strengthen the US dollar. This would have the effect of making imports cheaper and exports more expensive, which counteracts the effect of the tariffs. A strong increase in the US dollar would cancel out the impact of the tariffs and prevent any price inflation.

In reality, the opposite has happened. The US dollar depreciated against the currencies of its major trading partners. This actually amplifies the effect of the tariffs by pushing up prices for increased inflation. As some economists have pointed out, allowing the US dollar to depreciate would have had a similar effect as the Trump tariffs, but it would have been more widespread.

Inflation
Inflation is a problem for most modern economies. An increase in prices caused by the imposition of tariffs might bring an increase in inflation. The Federal Reserve might need to push up interest rates to keep inflation under control. This would make people worse off and might slow the economy.

World Economy
The introduction of large tariffs can create uncertainty and disrupt world trade. The reduction of specialisation could undermine efficiency and push up the costs of economic production. If the disruption to trade is serious the world economy could go into decline. This would make everyone worse off, although the effects would be uneven.

Lazy Trump?

In my previous post, I suggested that Donald Trump is lazy. In this post I explain what I meant.

Donald Trump puts a lot of energy into things that he likes doing but neglects many important aspects of his job. The US presidency is a massive job, probably more than one person can do, even if the person is incredibly fit and energetic. It is unlikely that any eighty-year old will struggle to keep up.

A president has four important things to do.

1. Collect and analyse information about the issues about which he will have to make decisions.
2. Make decisions about key issues the nation is facing.
3. Communicate the decision effectively when it has been made.
4. Ensure that the decision is implemented. This is the hard part.

On top of this the president must campaign for the next election.

1. Trump does not do the first task very well. He obviously has plenty of advisors, but it seems that he is not keen about reading briefing papers prepared for him. I suspect he assumes that he already knows all that he needs to know. Consequently, he often makes bad decisions, because he did not understand the issue sufficiently well.

2. Trump is decisive when making decisions. And when his decisions are wrong, he corrects them, but it would be better if he got the decision right in the first place.

3. Trump is extremely good at communicating his decisions. The problem is that God can speak and it comes to be, but humans cannot speak things into being.

4. A president must rely on his team to implement the decisions that he has made. Trump has some very skilled people on his team, but they are people with strong views about what should be done, so they often will try to implement their own plans. Presidents have to be very active to ensure that their team implements their decisions.

   This is where Trump is lazy. He does not ensure that the team he has appointed carry out his decision. This was a problem in his first term. He negotiated a ground breaking agreement with North Korea, but then allowed John Bolton to undermine it and that agreement was never implemented. This problem will continue to undermine the effectiveness of his presidency.

Donald Trump and Daniel (4) Broken and Discarded

Donald Trump will have a dazzling rise like a bright shining shooting star, but will fade quickly and disappear. After several fiascos resulting from the overuse of international power that he does not have, he will be broken by failure.

Donald Trump will discover that he has immense power over the federal bureaucracy (great power in the nation) but that his power to control the nations of the world has evaporated. Too many bad economic decisions and the failure of too many foolish international adventures will shatter him. Trump will be a broken man, destroyed by the shame of failure. Like Nebuchadnezzar, he will collapse at the peak of his power (Dan 4).

Trump will be pushed aside by the powerful men who surround him. His VP will probably pushed out too. He has empowered these men, but they will disempower him.

Broken Trump will be succeeded by a despicable person, who will use the power techniques that his predecessor has developed to exercise immense power and control over the American nation. People who are scared of Donald Trump will applaud his collapse and embrace his successor, but this is a mistake, because they will be deceived into welcoming their betrayer.

A despised person will stand in his place (Dan 11:21a).

The people who dislike Donald Trump will praise his successor, but they will be surprised when he lasts longer and uses the power that Donald Trump has released to develop immense executive power. He might seem to be good at first, but according to Daniel, he will be around for a long time and will do great evil.

Donald Trump will only last for a short time, but is important, because he will open the way for another ruler more successful. The second ruler will use the same methods as Donald Trump to massively expand presidential power. He will do far more harm, because his power will last much longer.

The ruler who replaces Donald Trump will be dishonest from the start.

A despised person will stand in his place, to whom they had not given the respect of the kingdom: but he will come without warning and seize the kingdom by intrigue (Dan 11:21).

When he gains his place, this ruler will not have the respect of many in his nation. Some will recognise that he will be a despicable person and assume that he will not gain power, but he will engage in intrigue and seize control of his nation.

Once he gains power, this ruler is successful against strong opposition.

The forces of the overwhelmer will be overwhelmed before him; they will be broken (Dan 11:22).

Stated literally, this verse says that "overwhelming forces will be overwhelmed". Or a deluge of forces will be deluged. There is no reference to the King of the South, so the expression "overwhelmer" could have a different more local meaning. A perceived threat to the United States at the current time is the millions of refugees from Latin America who are travelling through Mexico and sneaking across the southern border into the southern states. So many were coming that they have been "overwhelming" the border control forces. Associated with this overwhelming flood of people is a flow of illicit drugs that are destroying the youth of America.

To distract the people of his nation from the pain of his losses overseas, the despicable ruler might attack Mexico to once and for all close the border to the overwhelming flood of people who are crossing every night and the flow of drugs that are striking the heart of his nation. Daniel might be warning that Mexico will be broken when the United States invades to secure its border and overwhelming flow of people and drugs.

Daniel also explains that

A commander of the covenant will be destroyed (Dan 11:22).

The despicable ruler will destroy a key military leader in Israel.

The full series can be read on Substack.

Donald Trump and Daniel (3) Limited Power

Donald Trump is not a good man, but he is arrogant and easily sidetracked, so he will not personally deliver as much harm as people fear. He loves power, but he does not have the wisdom needed to use it effectively. One reason he will fail is that he has vastly over-estimated his power over the nations of the world.

Trump’s big problem is that he understands presidential power, but he vastly over-estimates the power of the United States. He assumes that the nations of the world fear the military and economic power of his nation, but he does not understand that the nations no longer fear his nation’s power. He does not understand that American power is crumbling around him.

Donald Trump believes that he controls the greatest military in the world, but he forgets that the recent military efforts of his nation have ended in failure. The United States had to retreat from Afghanistan in embarrassment. The US proxy war against Russia is ending in defeat. The US efforts to subdue Yemen with a destructive bombing campaign has ended in an embarrassing failure (two F18s falling off an aircraft carrier is a sign). Too many unsuccessful military adventures and the economic boondoggles of the weapons industry have severely weakened the American military.

Donald Trump does not seem to understand that financialization and deliberate de-industrialisation by American financial leaders have massively undermined the strength of the US economy. America is no longer the great innovator. nor is it the world’s manufacturer. American industrial power has been destroyed along with many communities that depended on it. Imposing tariffs on imports will not instantly restore production in the United States. Donald Trump will not be able to restore US industrial strength, despite his many promises. A trade war may damage his perceived enemies, but it will also harm the United States.

Donald Trump has always been a bully. That worked in the business world that he came from because he could intimidate his opposition, while buying the support that he needed. He could use lawyers to do the bullying, while he pretended to be the nice guy coming to the rescue those they had beat down. Bullying might work against weaker nations, like Panama, Colombia, and perhaps even Mexico, Iran and Canada. However, when he tries to bully stronger nations like the UK, Germany, Russia and China, they will push back and he will have to make an embarrassing retreat.

Donald Trump’s attempts to bring peace in the Middle East will end in failure. Giving impunity to Israeli bullying will result in the destruction of thousands of lives. His support for Israeli bullying will undermine his credibility in the world when the ugliness of the Israeli heart is exposed. Trump will be accused of supporting and equipping a genocide in Gaza.

The blustering bully will be crippled by failure and disappointment.

Donald Trump and Daniel (2) Surprise

Many Christians are upset by the actions of Donald Trump’s presidency, but I believe that Donald Trump will burn out quickly. Unfortunately, the power he has accumulated will not disappear when moves from office, but will still be in place, waiting for a successor to pick it up.

The most dangerous thing that Donald Trump will do is show the way for a younger successor who will exercise immense executive authority to gain dictatorial power. The real danger for the nation and the world is not Donald Trump, but a successor, who will learn to use power in the same way as the Trump administration has been exercising it. His power will be greater, because he will hold it for much longer.

I have been studying Daniel 11 for several years as it seems to describe the season we are living through: the climax of government power. More detail can be found in All Whats Going On. If my interpretation of this chapter is correct, Daniel describes a strong ruler emerging in the western world following a series of tumultuous events. Donald Trump is a key person in a transition to autocratic power.

The ruler who precedes him became obsessed with the “borderlands” (Ukraine)

He will turn his attention to the coastlands and will seize many of them (Dan 11:18).

This is a good description of Joe Biden.

So he will turn his back face toward the strongholds in own land, but he will stumble and fall and not be found (Dan 11:19).

He stumbles and falls, and then disappears from the stage. This is what happened to President Biden.

Daniel describes the ruler who emerges in his place (Dan 11:20).

He stands in his place and sends an extractor of tribute for the glory of his kingdom (Dan 11:20a).

This ruler sends out a tax collector. There was no income tax in Daniel’s time, so kings raised money by levying tariffs and duties on trade and by imposing the payment of tribute on other kings. The tariffs on imports and the sanctions being imposed by the US on various nations could be a fulfilment of this prophecy.

The United States has imposed more sanctions and tariffs than any other nation. It has destroyed numerous nations using economic sanctions, including Syria, Iraq, Iran and Libya.

Daniel explains that this king engages in "trade war" for the “glory of his kingdom”. This sounds like “Make America Great Again”. Using tariffs and sanctions to restore American power points to the second term of President Donald Trump.

This transitional ruler is powerful, but Daniel explains that within a short time, he will be broken.

In a few years, he will be broken, yet not in anger or in battle (Dan 11:20b).

If this is a reference to Donald Trump, it suggests that he will have great power, but it will not last long. Daniel explains that he will rise fast, but fizzle out. He will be broken, but not by war or plague.

Many Christian leaders are concerned that Donald Trump is undermining democracy and will become a permanent dictator. The reality is that he is too old and lazy to become a dictator (wielding autocratic power is a young man’s game). I believe that he will not last long enough to become a real dictator. His administration has started with a hiss and a roar, but Trump does not have the energy to sustain it, especially when the opposition to policies builds up.

I will explain how this could happen in my next post.

Donald Trump and Daniel (1) Source of Power

If we want to understand what is happening in the world, we need to understand the source of the immense power being exercised by Donald Trump. He is simply making very effective use the power that was accumulated by his predecessors.

Most recent presidents have struggled with power. GW Bush struck out in a war on terror, but his efforts failed. Barack Obama tried to bring change, he never mastered the power needed to bring change. Joe Biden was too intellectually deficient to control it; instead, his senior aides controlled him. Donald Trump was steam-rolled by the bureaucracy during his first term as president. The president of the United States has enormous power, but during most recent presidencies it has lain dormant and under-used.

Now Donald Trump has come back to the White House with a new understanding of presidential power and has gathered people around him who have worked out how power works. Trump is now using his executive power to accomplish his agenda (I don’t agree with much of his agenda, but this is not about that).

Many Christians are afraid of what is happening. Some say that Trump is evil. Others say that he is dictator. They might be partly right, but these ideas do not explain what is happening in the United States.

The reality that needs to be understood is that the US constitution and decisions by Congress give the president enormous powers that until now have not been fully used. Donald Trump has not had to discard the constitution to achieve massive power. Article II of the US Constitution says that “Executive power shall be vested in the President of the United States.” This gives the president control of the federal executive. This entrusted immense power to the president, especially at a time when the federal bureaucracy has grown very large.

In addition, political change has removed many of the constraints on presidential power established by the framers of the Constitution. They went to extraordinary lengths to achieve a dynamic, self-adjusting balance of power between three equal branches of government. In theory, the “executive” branch executes the will of Congress, as expressed through legislation that Congress alone can introduce and pass.

In practice, members of congress have handed much of their power over to the president. For example, the constitution gives congress control over taxes and appropriations, but it has largely abrogated this responsibility by passing omnibus spending bills that no one understands or controls. Congress also has the authority to declare wars, but it has also abrogated this authority by giving presidents a general authority to engage in wars.

Congress has given the president powers to act independently during an “emergency”. So by declaring a “fentanyl emergency” to be a public health emergency, Trump has been able to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico without Congressional approval. Trump and Biden both sent finance and weapons to Israel without congressional agreement using “emergency powers”. All that was necessary was for the Secretary of State to declare that it was an “emergency”. Rubio and Blinken both used this loophole. Congress is unlikely to take back the power that it has given to the presidency.

In 1977, Congress passed the International Emergency Economic Powers Act which grants the President broad authority to regulate international economic transactions following a declaration of a national emergency. This authority is triggered by a declaration of national emergency related to an unusual and extraordinary threat with a foreign source. Trump has declared that the US trade deficit is an emergency created by foreign actors taking advantage of the openness of the US economy. This gives him authority to apply tariffs and other controls on world trade without getting permission from the congress.

The Supreme Court is supposed to have independent control over the power of the president, but for most of the twentieth century, the courts supported changes that increased presidential power. The court has recently become more conservative, but it has very little to hold back presidential power. A few lower-court judges have attempted to put a hold on some of Trump’s executive orders, but it is quite likely that these attempts will be overturned on appeal.

Donald Trump is not seizing power illegally. He is just using the power that has been given to him by the Constitution and Congress, which previous presidents have not had the ability or energy to use effectively. Raising alarm at Donald Trump’s use of executive power is probably wasted energy, because the power that he is exercising was given to him by the constitution and the congress.

Vinnie Rotondaro explains how this has happened.

The central truth we keep missing — especially on the left — is that Trump is not an aberration. He’s a grotesque continuation. The playbook he uses was written by both parties over decades of eroding democratic norms, consolidating executive power, and circumventing meaningful checks on authority. Trump didn’t invent the impulse to rule by fiat; he just brings it out into the open.

If we want to stop the next Trump, or the next expansion of executive lawlessness, we can’t keep pretending he came out of nowhere. The removal of checks and balances didn’t happen overnight. It was built incrementally, piece by piece, under the banner of national security — with the cooperation and silence of the same liberal establishment that now acts scandalized by Trump’s every defiance.

Trump exposes the tools others helped create. He strips them of their moral veneer, revealing the ugly core. And rather than confront the system itself, liberals point at Trump as a singular villain — as if everything was working just fine before he came along.

The truth is harder to face: If we want to stop the next Trump, or the next expansion of executive lawlessness, we can’t keep pretending he came out of nowhere. We need to reckon with the fact that our democracy has been undermined from within — by both parties, for years. We need to challenge not just the man, but the machine.

I will explain why this is important in my next post.

Audio Books

Amazon have developed beta process producing audiobooks from eligible eBooks using virtual voice narration. The process allows the author to choose the voice of the narrator.

I have used this process to produce audio versions of two of my books. These are now available on Amazon.

See Being Church Where We Live
And Healing: Insights for Christian Elders

Day of Cleansing

I wrote about the day of cleansing as part of my article about the offerings in Leviticus, but it became too large, so I have pulled it out into a separate article for convenience.

See Day of Cleansing on substack or Day of Cleansing for an internet version.

Why Blood?

During 2024, I undertook a detailed study of the Offerings in Leviticus. The insights I gained were published in an article called Leviticus. They are important for clarifying what Jesus achieved when he died on the cross.

More recently, I discovered some important insights about the nature of purity and impurity, which I pulled out into a separate article called Purity and Impurity, because the original article on Leviticus had become too long.

A key important insight gained during this study was that the Decontamination Offering was the cure for Harmful Life Impurities. However, I was surprised to discover that blood was not offered as a sacrifice to God. This raised an important question: What does Blood achieve?. This is a very important question, which is not well understood, so I have extracted my answer to this question and put it into this separate article called Why Blood?.

Pure and Impure

During 2024, I undertook a detailed study of the Offerings in Leviticus. The insights I gained were published in a big article called Leviticus. They are important for understanding what Jesus achieved when he died on the cross.

A key insight was that the purpose of the Decontamination Offering was to remove Impurities from the tabernacle. That pushed me into a study of the nature of impurity in Leviticus, as needed to understand what caused them, if I was to understand how they could be removed. I discovered that the impurities that caused harm were the work of the spiritual powers of evil, although this was not very explicit in the Old Testament.

Recently, when reading Mark’s gospel I was struck by the parallels with Leviticus. Some of the evil spirits that Jesus encountered are actually called “contaminating spirits”. I had not thought about the significance of this title before, but the New Testament was clearly confirming that evil spirits caused the contaminating impurities that the Decontamination Offering was designed to remove from the tabernacle.

The other interesting insight from Mark’s gospel was that in the first few miracles described. Jesus resolved problems that were the consequence of Harmful Life Impurities (scale disease, abnormal bodily discharge, and death). This implication is that, not surprisingly, Jesus’ ministry transformed the situation with respect to purity and impurity.

The article on Levitical Offerings was becoming too large more details, so I have pulled all the information about Purity and Impurity out into a separate article and added my new insights to it. This is an important topic for Christians to understand, as without awareness of the nature of impurity the Levitical offerings do not make sense, particularly the Decontamination Offering. Several New Testament events do not make sense if the background in Leviticus is missed, so it is essential for a full understanding of the gospel.

Go to Pure and Impure.
The Substack version is here.

Incarnation

The incarnation of Jesus was the greatest even in the history of the world. God came into the world that he had created, which had rejected him, in the form of a created being. Yet many Christians struggle to understand its wonder, without getting stuck on the baby, or jumping to the cross.

For more see Incarnation

My Life and Books (22) Gods Economy

God’s Economy is my final book. Everything on earth belongs to God, so all our economic activity is part of his economy, whether we acknowledge him or not. This book describes the Instructions for Economic Life that God gave through Moses. Jesus confirmed this guidance and adapted it for people who are loving one another in a Kingdom Community.

All economic and business activity is part of God’s Economy. Applying the Instructions for Economic Life will completely transform our economic behaviour and business activity. God’s Economy has three parts.

Part One describes God’s Instructions for Economic Life. Jesus confirmed these instructions and adapted them to work in a society in which tribal connections have broken down. He explained how they apply to the communities of love that he was establishing amongst the people who chose to follow him. He shifted the focus from neighbours to people who are committed to loving one another, but the core principles are the same.

Part Two applies God’s Instructions for Economic Life to modern society. God does not expect the people of the world to live according to these instructions, but he requires those who have chosen to serve Jesus to apply his wisdom in their lives and communities.

These instructions are only practical amongst people who are being the church where they live. They can apply God’s instructions without relying on government enforcement while continuing to live in a world that is dominated by the existing power systems. God’s economy will become a witness and sign to a world that has lost its way.

The first two chapters of Part Three describe the problems with modern money and banking. These flaws inevitably produce economic instability, inequality and often extreme poverty. Followers of Jesus need to understand these problems, but they do not prevent them from living out God’s Instructions for Economic Life within their Kingdom Communities.

The last three chapters of Part 3 explain how better money and financial institutions can be established within their Kingdom Communities in preparation for the time when the kingdoms of the world collapse and fall.

Getting everything that needs to be in a book about God’s Economy is almost impossible. I have concentrated on economic ideas that are new and different, rather than trying to cover everything that might be relevant. I focus on the changes that are necessary for the emergence of the Government of God.

My Life and Books (21) Gods Economy

About ten years ago, I felt that I was ready to answer the question that my atheist teacher had asked, but one more obstacle lay in the way. I still had faith in political power. I believed that God’s people could use political power to establish his Kingdom on earth. I needed to grasp the failures and futility of politics.

Modern economics is mostly politics. The solutions dreamt up by economists can only be implemented by a government with coercive power, so economics becomes a servant of politics.

• Fiscal policy explains why politicians should take money from some people and use it to benefit others.

• Monetary policy explains how governments can control the creation of money and who should benefit.

• Labour economics guides politicians who want to control employment practices and pay.

Modern economics and politics are hard to separate. Economic principles get caught up in political power.

Jesus refused to use political power to advance the Kingdom of God (Luke 22:25-26; John 18:36). Political spirits and government spirits have used political authority to leverage their power on earth. Evil cannot be used to accomplish good.

Once I understood the problems of political power, my understanding of the nature of economics changed dramatically. The policies of modern economists cannot enter the Kingdom of God because they need to be imposed from the top by human governments with the power to make people do the right thing. I began seeking a politics-free economics.

When I studied this issue seriously, I discovered that God had already given a system of government to Moses that does not rely on force and coercion. I described his system of local judges applying his law and voluntary military leaders protecting their community in a book called Government of God (2017). It explains how Kingdom Communities can function without political power. They can voluntarily provide all the services that human governments promise, but fail to deliver.

When I first studied economics, I did not love God’s law. I simply did not care about it. I knew that Jesus was very clear that it had not been set aside, but it did not seem to be relevant to the economic and political issues that I was studying. When I discovered that love of the law is the key to wisdom, I realised that I needed to study the law in detail.

Since I gained that understanding, I have studied the Torah quite seriously. I did a course in the Hebrew language to assist. I have found it to be a rich treasure of wisdom, particularly on economic and political issues.

To support my detailed study of the law, I copied all the laws and commands in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy into a spreadsheet. I left out those that referred to the sacrifices and the priesthood because I assumed that they had been fulfilled in Jesus and no longer needed to be obeyed. This left me with about 250 commands that I grouped together into about twenty-five categories. One of my categories was Economic Life. More than thirty commands fell into this category. They set out God’s Guidance for Economic Life.

Once I understood the problems of political power, my understanding of the nature of economics changed dramatically. The policies of modern economists cannot advance the Kingdom of God because they need to be imposed from the top by human governments with the power to make people do the right thing. I began seeking a politics-free economics.

I discovered the Instructions for Economic Life that God gave to Moses. I also found that Jesus had validated these instructions in his teaching about economics. God’s instructions for a community of people to develop an economy that can function effectively without the need for political power and coercion is described in my book called God’s Economy.

The advance of the gospel by the power of the Spirit should produce a radically different society and economy. The most significant change is that there will be no human government to enforce economic policies. Economic and social change will come as more and more people choose to follow Jesus.

God’s economy is not modern capitalism. Modern capitalism is a system in which all activities are commercialised. Big businesses collude with political power to gain wealth at the expense of ordinary people. Materialism and consumerism are advanced at the expense of relationships. The strong are rewarded, the weak suffer. God’s economy is radically different from modern capitalism.

This book describes the changes to economic activity that will occur as the Government of God comes to fullness. It seeks to answer the following question: “What would an economy look like if most people chose to follow Jesus and the Holy Spirit was able to establish the Government of God?”. This is the question my economics teacher asked me back in 1975.

As the gospel advances, followers of Jesus will form Kingdom Communities that implement his system of justice, protection and welfare (as described in Government of God). God’s economy will emerge as these communities apply Jesus’ interpretation of the Instructions for Economic Life.

The practical outworking of God’s economic wisdom will vary according to local cultural and living arrangements. People will have to work out the details by following the leading of the Holy Spirit and adapting the principles to their local situation.

More at Gods Economy.

My Life and Books (20) Government of God

My book called Government of God explains the perfect system of government that God gave through Moses when he was leading the children of Israel into the promised land. This alternative system of justice, welfare and defence relies on Free Authority. It does not need the coercion and force of Imposed Authority. The book describes how God’s people can prepare for the collapse of human government by applying these principles within Kingdom Communities.

A neighbourhood church becomes a Kingdom Community by providing everyone living in their neighbourhood with the services that governments promise, but fail to deliver. They will provide social support, justice and protection for everyone in their neighbourhood, regardless of whether they have chosen to follow Jesus. When people submit to the wisdom of the elders of a Kingdom Community to obtain these benefits, they are part of the Kingdom of God even though they have not chosen to follow Jesus.

The Kingdom of God is the goal of everything, but there are no kingdoms left on earth, so the word “kingdom” is not very helpful to modern people. The best way to understand the nature of a kingdom is to think of it as a “government”, so I often refer to it as the “Government of God” to make its role and nature clear. This explains the title of this book.

Government of God describes the important insights into political theory that I received as I studied the scriptures and pondered the problems faced by modern political systems. I realise that most people do not get the significance of these insights because they still have strong faith in political power. They believe that the situation in society and the economy will improve if only the right person (or the right political party) is elected to power. Unfortunately, history shows that this is a false hope.

I am patient. The time is getting closer when human trust in political power will be severely shaken. When that happens, people will begin searching for a form of government that does not rely on human wisdom and power. They will then be ready for the insights that I have shared.

More at Government of God.

My Life and Books (19) Voluntary Justice

A really important discovery was that the system of justice established by God in the Torah is voluntary. The judges raised up to apply the law do not have a police force to enforce their decisions. All the judges can do is hear the case brought before them. They cannot force people to appear before the court. All they can do is hear the testimonies of the people who came before them and announce their verdict. They will specify the amount of restitution that should be made if a crime has occurred, but they have no power to enforce their decisions.

In a voluntary community, the only constraint on behaviour will be peer pressure from within the community. When a judge declares a person guilty, the elders of the community should help the person make restitution (they might even lend them the money). They should do what they can to help the person change their behaviour and live at peace with their neighbours.

If the guilty person rejects the judge’s verdict, they are also resisting the wisdom of the people who are trusted by the rest of the people living in the community. They are undermining people who have loved and served them. Their relationship with the community that had sustained them would be dead.

The person rejecting a judge’s verdict would be left out of all community activities (Deut 17:12). They will lose all the benefits that come from participating in its activities, including financial support and spiritual protection. Protection from evil (physical and spiritual) comes from belonging to a community. The price of this protection is submission to the justice imposed by the community.

The person who rejects the verdict of the judge respected in their community is rejecting the authority of its elders. This withdrawal of respect eliminates the elder’s authority to provide spiritual protection for them. Spiritual protection comes through submission to elders who stand together against enemy attacks. When a person rejects the authority of their elders, their protection evaporates (1 Cor 5:5,13).

People who refuse to comply with the justice imposed by judges recognised within their community will lose physical and spiritual protection. This might have more serious long-term consequences than the penalty they are attempting to escape, as those who refuse to submit to judges make themselves vulnerable to evil.

If a person persists in doing evil, they become a threat to the peace and security of the community. The leaders might need to exclude them from the community to prevent further harm.

More at Voluntary Justice.

My Life and Books (18) Powers that Be

After many years pondering the meaning of Romans 13:1, I discovered that Paul was actually affirming the system of excellent judges interpreting the law of God established in the Torah.

Every person should submit to the more excellent judges, because the ones that exist have been established by God (Rom 13:1).

When explaining which authorities are from God, Paul constructs a strange sentence that uses the verb “to be” twice. Translated literally, the verse means “the authorities that are, are from God.” This is odd. Paul was saying that “the authorities that are” or “the authorities that be” are from God. This strange expression, “the authorities that be” refers back to where the book of Deuteronomy says that refers to “the judges that are”.

You shall come unto the judge that shall be in those days: and you shalt inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of judgment (Deut 17:9).

A literal translation is “the judges that shall be in those days” or “the judges that are in those days”. Paul would have been familiar with these texts. When he started thinking about justice, the Holy Spirit brought this expression to his mind.

The Torah introduced a unique system of justice: God’s law applied by local judges. Paul is simply referring back to this verse and confirming that God’s will has not changed. He confirmed that the judges who have emerged in a free society are arranged by him.

More at Understanding Romans 13.

My Life and Books (17) Two Standards

An important discovery for me was that God has different standards for citizens of the Kingdom and the people of the world living close to a Kingdom Community.

• Citizens of a Kingdom Community have freely submitted to Jesus by listening to the Holy Spirit and obeying his word.

• Residents of a Kingdom Community live within the same neighbourhood, but they have not accepted the gospel or chosen to follow Jesus. They may want to receive the blessings that flow from participation in the Kingdom Community, but they are not full citizens because they have chosen not to surrender to Jesus.

Citizens will support the work of the Spirit by loving and sharing with the residents of their neighbourhood. They will provide justice, support and protection for anyone with a need, free of charge and control.

• Citizens of the Kingdom will be expected to live by the gospel standards, because they have received the Spirit. Their law is Jesus’ new commandment.

  Love one another, as I have loved you.

  Turn the other cheek.

  Give to those who ask for help.

  This type of behaviour should be normal for Christians, but it will not be expected from those who have not chosen to follow Jesus.

• Residents within a Kingdom Community who have not chosen to follow Jesus will be expected to live according to God’s Laws for Society.

  No stealing or theft.

  No assault or murder.

  If they want the benefits of living in a Kingdom Community, they will have to accept God’s law. (The same law will apply to citizens who have fallen away from their faith.) They will often benefit from Christian love, but they will not be expected to live by Christian standards.

The leaders of the community will say to the people living among them something like this.

We do not expect you to live according to the standards of Jesus, but you will recognise the need for good law. We are offering you the best set of laws possible. We will apply them if you are willing to accept them. That is all that you need to do to have a part in this community.

That is an offer that would be hard to refuse, as this standard will not be too hard for most people.

The laws for society in the Torah were designed to be rolled out to the world (but Israel failed to demonstrate their efficacious. These laws were God’s perfect standard for the people of the world and for the children of Israel before they received the fullness of the Spirit at Pentecost.

The Sermon on the Mount is God’s perfect standard for people who have chosen to follow Jesus and receive the fulness of the Holy Spirit. This standard is only for the church, not for the world.

• The Torah is God’s standard for justice.

• The Sermon on the Mount is God’s standard for love. It does not replace the laws for society but enables them to be fully fulfilled.

My Life and Books (16) Judicial Branch Only

I came to understand that in a free society, people will be free to choose a judge to decide their case . They will choose judges whose wisdom and skill are recognised by other people that they know. If people have the freedom to choose their judges, they will always go to people that they trust. In a community of trust, people can talk to someone who knows about the record of the judge. Wise judges will be trusted because they have a good reputation in their community.

Judges do not need to be appointed. They will emerge as wise people in their local communities. They will become judges when people start going to them for guidance in dealing with difficult situations. The title judge will be recognition of what they are already doing. Judges who make good decisions will get more cases to decide. Those who make bad decisions will get fewer cases. Those who make good decisions would become widely known in society.

As a person’s reputation for wise judging spreads, people will start referring to them as a judge. The title does not change a wise person into a judge. It is just a recognition of what they are already doing. The reality is that a judge will only be as successful as their last few cases. If they start making bad decisions, people will stop bringing them cases, and they will cease being a judge.

A judge has no permanent authority. Their authority is limited and temporary, because it is gained through voluntary submission. When people take a dispute to a judge, they delegate authority to the judge. This authority of a judge is limited to the situation that is submitted to them. The judge has no authority over any other aspect of their litigant’s lives. The judge’s authority is temporary. It ends when the case has been decided and any required restitution paid. When the case that has been submitted to the judge is complete, the authority that has been delegated is gone.

The people in a community will influence the choice of judge by supporting the implementation of a judge’s decision. If they undermine the decisions of a particular judge, by supporting a person who refuses to make restitution, people with disputes will avoid that judge.

The process is described in Raising Judges.

My Life and Books (15) No Executive

A big shock was realising that there is no Executive branch of government in the Torah. There was no one appointed to implement government programs. There was no bureaucracy to carry out political programs.

One reason why there is no Executive is that there is no compulsory taxation in the Torah. All giving to the community was voluntary. There was an expectation that people would be generous to the poor and needy, but there was no agency with the authority to enforce that.

This means that one of the three standard branches of government described in most political theologies, the Executive Branch, are missing from God’s system of government. The executive branch can only function with money. If there is no compulsory taxation, the executive branch loses its power.

An important step was realising that God does not want kings. He allowed Samuel to appoint a king for Israel, but he was very clear that they were copying the surrounding nations, not doing something that God commanded (1 Samuel 8). Samuel warned that the king would harm the nation and the people would suffer.

I discovered that Moses’ role, apart from being a prophet, was to be a temporary military leader. When the nation was attacked, and the people gathered to defend it, they would agree on a person to lead them. That was a temporary role. When the enemy was defeated, the military leader would go back to their home and become an ordinary person.

Kings are really permanent military leaders. They tend to become dangerous because they are tainted by war, but gain lots of power. No human king is good.

My Life and Books (14) Identifying Universal Laws

Another big surprise was discovering that the Torah has two universal laws. Discovering this key was a huge step forward. A problem with studying the Torah is that it is full of a lot of different stuff mixed up together: history, laws, sacrifices, tabernacle design, covenants, infection control, genealogies, and rules for the priesthood. We need a principle to identify the laws that judges are required to enforce in every society.

After looking for a long time without success, I found the key I have been looking for. That key is a phrase in the book of Exodus. Whereas most laws in Exodus are addressed to Israel, I noticed that a section of laws in the middle of the book seems to be addressed to a universal man. They all begin with the expression, “If a man” (kiy ish). These laws are not addressed to Israel, but to all people. This set of universal laws begins at Exodus 21:12 and ends at Exodus 22:17.

This section of law also stands out as being different, because it is expressed in the third person. Most of the other laws in Exodus are expressed in the second person, ie you shall not steal, you shall not murder. Moses used “you” because he was addressing Israel and announcing laws for his listeners and their descendants. The Ten Commandments are all written in the second person, as they were spoken to Israel. The laws beginning at Exodus 21:12 are written in the third person, ie if he does something, he shall receive this penalty.

The third person is used when referring to someone who is not part of the conversation. It points to a third person, who is not the speaker (I) and not the listener (you). Moses used the third person here because this section of laws is for all people and not just for those who participate in the covenant made on Mount Sinai. The third factor that distinguishes the section of laws between Exodus 21:12 and Exodus 22:17 is that the subject of the verb is always “a man” or “men”. There is no definite article, so the reference is not to a particular man, but to any man. These seem to be laws for all men or “everyman”.

The use of the third person and “man” or “men” as the subject of the command marks off a set of laws that apply to all people in all societies everywhere. These laws are not just for Israel. The penalties for failure to comply with these laws are specified in a timeless way. I refer to them as the Laws for Society, as God intends them to be applied by judges in every society and culture.

The Laws for Society cover two areas of life.

• personal injury.
• protection of property.

Biblical justice is limited to:

• Physical injury to a human person.
• Theft or damage to property.

These two types of offence are the only ones specified in the Judicial Laws of Moses. There is nothing else. This makes God’s Judicial Law very simple and easy for everyone to understand. It means that we do not need a Congress or Parliament to turn out hundreds of new laws every year. We do not need law books with hundreds of pages of detailed legislation. All we need is wise judges, who can decide in any situation whether a victim was harmed by assault or if their property was harmed or stolen.